About Künstlerhof Frohnau (KHF)
Künstlerhof Frohnau (KHF) has existed for almost 30 years at the northern border of the city of Berlin. KHF operates studios and workshops, artist residencies, the Ruckhaberle Award, the Walden Festival, as well as additional exhibition and educational programs. The program is developed under the artistic direction of Kaya Behkalam and Setareh Shahbazi, in collaboration with a network of artists and curators.
The thematic focus of our work lies in engaging with our immediate surroundings: in the middle of the forest, at the border to Brandenburg, and directly along the former “death strip.” These complex historical, social, and ecological aspects form the framework for our cultural policy work.
History
The historic buildings of the Künstlerhof are single-story timber-frame structures from the 1930s. They were initially used as a military hospital and, from the 1950s onward, as a pulmonary sanatorium. Later, they served as an external branch of the Karl Bonhoeffer mental hospital. In the 1970s, a three-story new building was constructed for this purpose. After the hospital closed, refugees, primarily from Bosnia and Herzegovina, were housed on the site in the 1990s. The oldest building on the grounds at Hubertusweg 60 dates back to 1907. At the same time, it is the most recent addition: in 2002, the historic log cabin was relocated to the Künstlerhof in collaboration with the State Office for Monument Preservation and the Forestry Department.
After one year of vacancy, the site was leased to Künstlerhof Frohnau in 1998 under long-term contracts. The initiators of the project were a group of artists around museum director Dieter Ruckhaberle and the artists Akbar Behkalam and Kaya Behkalam. Through the strong personal initiative of the artists working at the site, a diverse and vibrant place for artistic production and discourse has developed over the years. Following the death of Dieter Ruckhaberle in May 2018, Künstlerhof Frohnau became the testamentary administrator of his artistic estate.
Archive
The Cultural Policy Archive of Künstlerhof Frohnau comprises the estate of writings, correspondence, and posters of the artist, curator, and cultural policy advocate Dieter Ruckhaberle. Archive inquiries should be directed to vorstand [at] khf-berlin.org.
The archive contains documents, among others, relating to:
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Freie Galerie (project space in Berlin’s Kurfürstenstraße 1963-1964)
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Staatliche Kunsthalle Berlin
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Neue Gesellschaft für Bildende Kunst – NGBK
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Kunstamt Kreuzberg
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Bundesverband Bildender Künstler
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Gewerkschaft Kunst im DGB
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VG Bild Kunst
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Bundeskulturwerk
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IG Medien
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Projektgruppe Kunst und Erwachsenenbildung Künstlerweiterbildung
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Deutsche Gesellschaft für Bildende Kunst
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Druckwerkstatt Bethanien
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BBK Berlin
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Bildhauerwerkstatt
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Kunst am Bau Berlin
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Berliner Kulturrat
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Freie Berliner Kunstausstellung
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Künstlerhof Buch
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Rat für die Künste Berlin
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Martin Gropius Bau
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Künstlersozialkasse